It’s beginning to look a lot like last year. The more things change for the Broncos, the more they stay the same.

The early run and the late collapse. It’s becoming a Denver football tradition.

There’s a new coach roaming the sideline, but he seems at least as stubborn as the old one. If keeping fan favorite Peyton Hillis glued to the bench in the absence of injured Correll Buckhalter wasn’t Josh McDan- iels’ way of reminding the rest of us who’s in charge, it signaled that egress from his doghouse might require a special dispensation from the pope.

Rookie Knowshon Moreno’s second half was horrific, but McDaniels kept going to him, like a man unwilling to admit there might be a better way.

Moreno carried nine times for negative 1 yard after intermission. Four carries for no gain and three more for losses, one of them at the goal line.

The question must be asked: Is it simply impossible for McDaniels to admit that his 215-pound first-round draft choice might not be his best option in short yardage? Is it impossible for him to admit that a bigger back might be more effective? Would he rather fail to score than admit he’s wrong?

“It’s not the back,” McDaniels insisted. “The running game is everybody. When it works well, it’s a lot of people working well together. And when it doesn’t work well, there’s a lot of people that need to do something different, something a little bit better to make it go.”

Maybe, but for the second week in a row, Moreno averaged less than 3 yards a carry. It was 2.7 against the Colts, an anemic 2.2 against the Raiders. By contrast, LaMont Jordan, who carried the ball five times in relief, averaged 5.4. Moreno has carried the ball 224 times in his first pro season. The kid might just be gassed.

“I would say that we’re searching,” quarterback Kyle Orton said of the ongoing struggles with short yardage. “We’re trying to find something that works down there. We’re not just sitting here beating our heads against the wall. We’re trying to find things that will work, and it’s just not happening right now.”

Really? Jordan’s only short-yardage carry came on second-and-1 from the Raiders’ 10 in the third quarter. He gained 4 yards. Nevertheless, when the Broncos got the ball at the Oakland 2 in the fourth quarter, it was back to Moreno.

You might have remembered what the Broncos used to do offensively when Brandon Stokley caught a ball up the seam in the fourth quarter and took it 63 yards. In fact, it might have reminded you that he’s still on the team.

Stokley caught 49 balls a year ago. He has caught 14 this year. Eddie Royal caught 91 a year ago. He has caught 37 this year. For tight end Tony Scheffler it was 40 last year, 30 this year. Of the receivers, only Brandon Marshall has approached his productivity under Mike Shanahan.

“There’s a lot of things you can kind of dissect and look at, but we were 6-0 to start the season and playing good football,” Scheffler said. “The plays haven’t been there in the passing game like they were a year ago, but we’re not talking about a year ago. This is a totally different offense, totally different personnel, and we’re still getting used to each other, the offense is still evolving. But there’s no excuses. The plays were out there to be made today.”

It was symbolic of this season’s offensive struggles that even after the long strike to Stokley, they couldn’t put it in the end zone. From the Raiders’ 2, they tried a short pass, the Moreno carry for a loss and another short pass before settling for a field goal that kept the Raiders within a touchdown.

Blame the defense if you like. Ultimately it collapsed against the Raiders’ rushing attack. But the offense had chances all day to put the game away and never did.

“Nineteen points isn’t going to get it done in general,” Orton said, which is interesting because the Broncos are averaging 19.6 for the season.

They are 2-6 since their 6-0 start. A year ago, they led the division early, then lost their last three to give it to the Chargers on the season’s final day. This year, the Broncos led the division by 3 1/2 games when they were 6-0. The Chargers clinched it Sunday, with two weeks to spare.

Now the Broncos face an uphill battle for the wild-card playoff berth that once looked like a gimme. If this feels like deju vu all over again, it’s only because it is.

Four assistant basketball coaches at Division I schools and a top Adidas executive were among 10 people charged Tuesday with crimes including bribery and fraud as part of a wide-ranging federal investigation into corruption in college basketball.

CenturyLink, the telecommunications company that ended its sponsorship agreement with Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall because of his protests during the national anthem last year, said it will not terminate its agreement with current client Emmanuel Sanders.